Sandy Watters holds a kitten Tuesday, July 31, at the Tri-County Humane Society. Watters, a customer service lead, recently won $5,000 in an online contest for the humane society. (Photo: Dave Schwarz, dschwarz@stcloudtimes.com)Buy Photo

ST. CLOUD — Sometimes making an impact just means taking what you do every day one step further when the opportunity arises.

Sandy Watters of St. Cloud saw such an opportunity in something she does all the time for fun. And because she took the chance to try, she earned a $5,000 donation for her employer, the Tri-County Humane Society.

All Watters had to was create a post on Imgur.

Imgur is a website where people share photos and memes that are funny, interesting or just entertaining. Watters said she's used it since 2012 the same way some people use Facebook, but the platform piqued her personal interest last year when Imgur announced "Project Stardust."

It's a competition sponsored by Imgur and Tito's Vodka to find "people telling wonderful stories about the world" and looking to make it better on the local level, according to Imgur creative strategist Charlie Williams-Brown.

"They create a post – text and images to tell a story," he said. "We called on people to create these posts and describe how they would use $5,000 to impact their community."

Watters' entry was a long stream of old humane society photos, self-made dog memes and text explaining the need for this money at the facility. This was the competition's second round and Watters decided to go for it — and she won.

Sandy Watters' entry in Imgur's contest included self-made memes like this one of shelter dog Kilo, who has since been adopted.(Photo: Submitted photo)

In her post, she caught the project's attention by sharing information about the humane society and the value of adopting a pet. Watters is a customer service lead at the humane society. Williams-Brown said they were also impressed by the humane society's work and the statistics Watters had to show for it.

"I love my job," said Watters. "I feel so glad to be a part of animal welfare in general, but also I feel so honored to be here, and every day I wonder what can I be doing to make this facility run more smoothly — to be able to do more for the animals."

Watters said the $5,000 is already going toward some crucial expenses. In her position she sees all aspects of the facility — adoptions, intakes, surgery expenses and more.

From July 1 to Monday morning, Watters said the facility racked up $1,500 in vaccinations for cats and kittens alone.

"Animal intakes over the summer are up 350 percent across the country," she said. "We have used a fair amount of our donations, including the $5,000 to pay for the incredible uptick we’ve seen."

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Sandy Watters smiles while spending time with Praline Tuesday, July 31, at the Tri-County Humane Society. (Photo: Dave Schwarz, dschwarz@stcloudtimes.com)

The humane society also spays or neuters every dog, cat and bunny it handles, which costs about $50 each. Last year, they did about 1,800 surgeries.

Then there's dental. Watters said a poodle named Topper was just given a dental cleaning and now is in the foster care system. He's waiting for necessary teeth extractions.

But Watters said they are also using some of the money to jump-start bigger plans.

"We are currently in a facility that was originally built in 1989," said Tauna Quimby, director of philanthropy for the humane society. "Animal sheltering has changed and certainly we’ve changed in that time."

Because of this, the humane society is looking to demolish its facility in the near future and rebuild it at double the current size. The project will cost about $3.5 million, Quimby said. This donation will help support a reception for major donors to help launch the capital campaign.

Quimby said the new facility would allow the society to expand education programs and have more space for the animals. Two ideas in the works would be a "cat colony," where cats can roam and approach people freely, and separate sections of the building for those adopting animals and those surrendering.

"Some people come in and are having the worst day of their life having to surrender their best friend, but at the same time seeing someone on the best day of their life getting a new best friend," said Watters.

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Sandy Watters stands in the future location of the new planned Tri-County Humane Society building Tuesday, July 31. (Photo: Dave Schwarz, dschwarz@stcloudtimes.com)

Watters wants to have that separation so those who have to surrender their pets have a private place to say goodbye.

"I think that’s a really overlooked aspect," she said.

With all this in mind, Quimby said she is glad people care to donate to the humane society and grateful for the energy Watters brings that made this most recent "Project Stardust" donation possible.

"She bounds into work and consistently goes above and beyond," Quimby said of Watters. "There can be 100 pets at every given time in this shelter, and she knows every single one of them by name. She’s above and beyond passionate about the human-animal bond."